Worcester teen could be first on trial for racketeering in Georgia 'Cop City' case

WORCESTER ― Aslan King has always been a bit of a rebel, a self-described former “knucklehead” from Main South who dropped out of high school before discovering success in teaching and performing punk rock.

His oldest child Ayla’s adolescence was on track to be far less rocky — they graduated on the honor roll from Worcester Technical High School in 2022 — until the racketeering charges in Georgia.

Ayla King, who uses they/them pronouns, was arrested at an Atlanta music festival last March in connection with an attack on police at the site of a proposed public safety training facility nearby.

King, who is 19, could be the first defendant to face trial in a case that has garnered international attention as well as criticism from civil rights organizations and lawyers.

“This seems like it’s completely designed to just chill (free) speech,” Aslan King said recently from his Grafton Hill home.

This month, Ayla King’s case has been covered by The Associated Press, Reuters and a host of other large news organizations.

But Ayla King, who most recently has been learning to farm as they await adjudication of a charge that could carry up to 20 years in prison, is unable to speak to the media by virtue of a gag order issued by the judge in the case.

The order, which a prominent Atlanta criminal defense attorney has called “unconstitutional,” does not apply to Aslan King, who agreed to speak to the Telegram & Gazette while noting he is not speaking on behalf of his child.

The order does apply to Ayla’s lawyer, who was unable to provide comment under a provision that prevents “counsel and the parties” from “any extra-judicial communications concerning the proceedings,” including “granting interviews.”

Speaking from the living room of his home, Aslan King described the order as the latest bit of government overreach in what he sees as a campaign designed to punish speech.

“You’re charging children with the (provision) you use to charge the mob,” he said of the racketeering charge, which is part of Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.

The law, whose federal counterpart is most commonly used against alleged gang members from MS-13 to Whitey Bulger, is being applied by Georgia authorities to 61 people who have opposed the construction of a sprawling police and fire facility in an Atlanta-area forest.

Critics of the prosecutions decry them as unconstitutional and politically motivated attempts to silence environmental and anti-police protests, while prosecutors say they are legitimate charges against “militant anarchists” who have attacked police and damaged property at the facility, which opponents have dubbed “Cop City.”

Prosecutors have justified the RICO charges by alleging that the defendants were part of a "conspiracy" spearheaded by a group, Defend the Atlanta Forest, which they allege is made up of anarchists who use violence to support their anti-police and environmentalist ends.

The indictment identifies specific members it alleges to have been part of Defend the Atlanta Forest and confrontations in which it was involved, including an occupation of the forest in which a shooting took place between an activist, who was killed, and police in January 2023.

The indictment does not specifically accuse Ayla King of being part of Defend the Atlanta Forest. It alleges they were one of many who joined a "conspiracy" to prevent the training center from being built.

The allegations

King is accused by Georgia authorities as being one of about 150 masked people they say attacked police at the “Cop City” site on March 5 before trekking to a nearby music festival and blending in with concertgoers.

More: What is 'Cop City?' Why activists are protesting police, fire department training center in Atlanta.

The AP has reported that police surveillance footage shows people bashing equipment, torching a bulldozer and police ATV while throwing rocks and fireworks at retreating law enforcement officers.

King was one of dozens of people detained at the music festival, and one of 23 arrested and charged with domestic terrorism before being indicted in August on the racketeering charge.

The indictment against King does not specify any alleged violence on their part. They are mentioned in three spots and accused using the same language applied to many others who were charged.

King, the indictment alleges, “did join an organized mob” that aimed to "occupy the DeKalb forest and cause property damage,” and “did join an organized mob and succeeded in overwhelming the police force, thereby aiding and abetting in the offense of Arson and Domestic Terrorism in an attempt to occupy the DeKalb forest and prevent the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.”

King’s lawyer, Surinder K. Chadha Jimenez, has written that King is “innocent of all charges” in court documents.

“Ayla is 100 percent innocent of these charges,” Aslan King told the T&G. “Ayla was not part of any violence. Ayla was watching a band playing music at the time the police showed up.”

He asserted that Ayla was not among the people who went to "Cop City" and attacked the facility.

No police were injured in the attack, multiple news outlets reported, while some of those arrested were treated for minor injuries; Aslan King alleged that Ayla was "bruised up" during their arrest, but not to the extent of some others.

News reports have not detailed the evidence against Ayla King, which prosecutors will need to set forth at trial.

The T&G was unable to access court documents in the case after a system the county courts in Georgia use to register users there repeatedly failed.

In general, news reports have stated that many protesters were arrested because they had mud on their clothes — authorities have accused them of crossing a creek to get back to the festival — or for having shields or numbers to call in case of arrest.

The trial was slated to begin Jan. 10 but was delayed after King’s lawyer elected to appeal a pretrial ruling from a judge.

The lawyer has argued the case should be thrown out because King’s right to a speedy trial under Georgia law has been violated, an argument the trial judge rejected.

A father's perspective

Aslan King said he first learned of Ayla’s arrest through a phone call shortly afterward, and booked a plane ticket the next morning to Atlanta.

He said Ayla had told him they were heading south on a road trip that included a stop in Virginia and ended up in Georgia for a music festival.

Aslan, who has taught for nearly two decades outside Worcester at a bridge program for at-risk kids, remembered first thinking Ayla would be facing only a trespassing charge.

But that quickly morphed into a charge of domestic terrorism — later supplanted by the RICO charge — and Ayla, then 18, was in jail for about a month.

Aslan said jail was extremely difficult for Ayla, whom he described as a “super intelligent and inquisitive” student who had decided to take a year off after high school.

He said Ayla, who attended Abby Kelley Foster Public Charter School before selecting Worcester Tech, was a “quiet” kid in high school who enjoyed, among other interests, roller derby.

Aslan King, who has released multiple punk rock albums and sports many eclectic pieces of décor in his home, said Ayla shares his proclivity toward the unconventional.

“Always into kind of weird stuff like me,” he joked, adding that they share similar tastes in music and art.

Aslan King said Ayla, often with their mother, from whom he is separated, would volunteer at food banks as well as the Mustard Seed. Other social causes Ayla King supported, he said, included working to improve conditions for those in subsidized housing.

Aslan King alleged that jail staff in Georgia did not accommodate Ayla’s vegetarian diet and failed to give them medication.

A post on social media shows Aslan King speaking at a rally outside the jail where Ayla was held.

“My child is a hero,” Aslan King says on the video, vowing that they and others incarcerated would be freed.

King said it was painful having to leave Georgia to get back to his job teaching while Ayla was in jail. Between lawyers and $15 for 10-minute phone calls, he said, “you go into debt.”

King said he spoke to Ayla four to five times a day — sometimes more — and heard increasing despair, with Ayla sometimes calling just to hear his voice.

“It’s brutal. You can hear the pain in that silence. You can hear how much your child is going through,” he said.

King described traveling back down to Georgia for a court hearing and watching remotely in his hotel room online as bail was set at $35,000.

A bail organization covered the fee, he said, calling the moment “kind of miraculous.” Since that time, he said, many other civil rights organizations and lawyers who see the prosecution as unjust have reached out to offer support.

Aslan King said Ayla turned 19 shortly after their release, celebrating with a small party with friends and family in a yard with “a bunch of bees” — Ayla had begun beekeeping before their arrest.

Looking forward

Aslan King said Ayla has “been taking (the prosecution) like a champ,” alternating between “being a 19-year-old kid having fun” and “having to go down to Georgia to play dress-up” in a courtroom.

“Ayla’s 19. At 19, your brain has six years before it’s done cooking,” Aslan said. “I don’t know how real it seems to them.”

Aslan said the charges have “wreaked havoc” on Ayla's life, including their job prospects.

He said they’ve been working on a farm for the past year, “telling me what they’re growing, how they do it.

“Always kind of teaching me stuff,” he said.

Aslan King, who has been critical of police in the past, opined that Ayla’s case is one that should give everyone concern.

“Not just as a dad, but as an informed citizen, as a person that pays attention to the world,” he said.

It is unclear when Ayla King’s case could reach trial, the AP reported. Other defendants, including people who are accused of more specific crimes, are slated for trial later this year.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ayla King faces trial for racketeering in Georgia Cop City case